Arguedas, José María.       The Pongo’s Dream

This folktale can be seen as a depiction of José María Arguedas’ perceptions on masters and their serfs in Peru.  Arguedas depicts masters with cruel and merciless attitudes; and serfs, specifically the pongo–the lowest of the low , as the humble, devout and altruistic. This story seems to tell a story of karma, or a ‘what goes around comes around’ idea, revealing that justice will come to those deserving and glory will be returned to the good. Arguedas’ writing style was succinct allowing the piece to deliver it’s message clearly

Asturias, Miguel Angel.

I deeply enjoyed Asturias’ writing style in throughout all this stories; it was vibrant and dense; allowing readers to be fully immersed within the essence of what is being told as well as the images. Asturias’ themes seem to explore the dialectical realms of commitment (both physical and spiritual), nature and man/woman.

The Legend of the Singing Tablets: Each sentence was so beautifully poetic and filled with thick layers of imagery. ~~ “… the swelling moon which suddenly would no longer be contained either in their mouths, or their eyes”~~ I am still unsure of the full meaning of the story I would have to read it again more attentively, however I feel it has to do with the ephemeral moments of glory and success and the cycle of that moment disappearing too.

cycles of love–commitment– hardship–success–love–and back again and again!~

The Legend of the Crystal Mask: This story had a more ominous and lingering tone than the first one. Additionally, this story evoked the senses much more and immersed the reader through this technique and less imagery (compared to the last). As a creator/artist as well, the concept of creations taking on their own life intrigued me and begs me to ask more questions to the meaning of it all!

The Legend of the Silent Bell was intriguing as it showed the explicit differences and perceptions of european and native peoples. Meaning was muffled within symbolism for me but hopefully that will be cleared up soon in class.

I also enjoyed The Legend of the Dancing Butchers. This story was a beautiful exploration of death and layers in many possible morals.

Late post due to catching the wretched flu floating around!  :

This piece the beginning sections of this reading struck a cord in me because of my personal experiences travelling throughout Peru and also my time spent with indigenous peoples from Sungai Utik Indonesia.

Having lived on the other side of the world my knowledge on the influence of colonisation within Latin American indigenous communities, and popular culture for that matter, was very basic.  So, learning the depths at which adaptation and merging of cultures occurred was fascinating to me.  The acknowledgment that the convergence of cultures did result in a new form  of culture (although in unjust circumstances) gives me slight reassurance when grappling  with the hardships indigenous peoples go through in the face of modernity.  It gives me reassurance as culture continues to persevere in times of pressure.  “The search for purely Indian expression is romantic and anti-historical” was an interesting point as it calls people to the present reality and gives space for contemporary indigenous life to evolve and continue through whatever influence. Additionally, this loosens the ties of modernity colliding with tradition and allows all dimensions history to be acknowledged.  This piece emphasised the avoiding superimposition by analysing and understanding the convergence of many cultures in Latin America as opposed to a romanticised history.

Arguedas and “The Pongo’s Dream”

I definitely found satisfaction in the way the story ended, even though you felt throughout the reading that justice had to be coming.  I think this story is interesting because I Wikipedia-ed Arguedas and it said that he came from a fairly well-off family.  Since his father was often absent and he didn’t get along well with his step-family, he spent a lot of time with the house servants.  This makes me wonder if his cruel and distasteful depiction of the lord in his tale was supposed to be reflective of his impression of his own family.  I also thought it was interesting to glimpse the bits of Catholicism woven into the story in the references to the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the judgement at the end.  It exemplifies the point from the Rowe, William, and Schelling reading how bits of European culture (i.e. Spanish Catholicism) were adopted into the fabric of Latin American popular culture, making it impossible to extract colonial influence from “pure” Latin American culture; it has all become intertwined over time.

Asturias Legends

The descriptive detail in Asturias’ legends is impressive; almost a little overwhelming sometimes.  In Legend of the Singing Tablets, I liked the number of senses that are engaged while reading.  At points, however, I thought it was a little hard to pick out what detail was important to the build up of the story and what was added richness.  This is what I pulled from it:

On page 84, Utuquel declares “to create is to steal,” suggesting the practice of re-purposing the work of others.  But later he says, “All works of art are foreign, and belong to those who borrow them from the interior of themselves,” implying that the person also steals from their own soul, which is somewhat disconnected from their physical being. On page 88, Asturias writes “many are the poets condemned to deposit white cloudlets in the craters of volcanoes, seeds left over from the colors that the sun steals from the moon, the price that must be paid for the tablet, in order to form the rainbow.”  These various quotes together suggest that art and poetry can be short-lived and sometimes heartbreaking careers for the physical person of the artist and the creative soul within each artist, but it is the accumulated contributions of these “suffering artists”, if you will, that leads to great beauty.

So far my favorite week of readings. As we learn more about the context of the readings – the history and territory of Latin America – I repeatedly find common strains and themes between, say, the Pongo’s dream and the Rowe/Schelling article. Two very different forms of cultural analysis, two very different lenses, and yet commonalities become clear. Between the two just mentioned, the idea of a utopian future that reversed or abolished the colonialist-imposed hierarchies had an outlet. A few observations and comments below:

– The poetry in the first Asturias was astoundingly beautiful. Both the images portrayed and the manner in which they were constructed captured my interest.

– Asturias has a way of capturing images, putting each of his words to use to construct in the reader’s mind a cosmos in which the situation happening has every reason to happen. In ‘Shining Tablets’ the description of the Moon-Chewers and the tablet ritual heightened the tensions surrounding Utuquel, which were then beautifully alleviated by a pseudo-military coup. The worlds created for Nurse Rain in ‘Crystal Mask’ are vivid, real. And when they alienate their creator, the reader must question why that is, and who the beauty of both the carved figures and Asturias’ poetry is for.

– Asturias’ ‘Butchers’ is one of my favorite. I don’t remember reading anything that constructs and illustrates a foretold death so beautifully. And all the while they deny it.

– The Pongo’s Dream was comedic in a way the others weren’t. Short and poignant. While it may not have had the vivid imagery of Asturias’ legends, lacking that made it easier to understand and decipher the meaning of.

I enjoyed these readings more than the ones done in the past weeks. Maybe because, since being stories, there was no interpretation or whatsoever handed over, and as all stories do, they make you think from your own experiences and emotions and give you the freedom to get what you want from them. I love reading stories in general, I think they are powerful tools to pass on important values rooted deep in the human’s psyche.

This week’s stories had in common to pass on the relation between Natives and European colonizers in what we call today ‘Latin America’ (since we discussed the name’s meaning in the previous class, I can’t help myself and have to put the term in brackets!) , with their inequalities, sufferning, exploitation, and other political and historical aspects.

The first reading, the Mayan Myths and Guatemalan Legends by Asturias, were a little ‘creepy’ to me, but so pleasing to read. The ‘Legend of the Singing Tablets’ was difficult to understand at first, with so many poetic words and phrases and names. I haven’t quite grasped the message and overall meaning yet.

The ‘Legend of the Crystal Mask’ reminded me of a story I think to know from another background, can’t remember which one specifically, but the craved sculptures that come to life is a theme I already encountered in mythological stories for sure. I didn’t understand why the main character is being called both ‘Nurse Rain’ and ‘Ambiastro’.

The ‘Legend of the Silent Bell’ was the longest one but the one with the most direct message, I think. The young, Indian nun who plucked out her ‘golden’ eyes because the Christian priest did not absolve her from a ‘blasphemic’ dream she had. However the meaning of the bell which becomes the ‘Silent Bell’ is still unclear to me. Plus, the story was told through many different stories overlapping which made it harder for me to follow the overall context. The contrast between European, Christian colonizers and native, Indian people was the clearest in this text.

Lastly, I enjoyed reading the ‘Legend of the Dancing Buthers’. It was simple and smooth. I wonder what the last character, Rascaninagua, is symbolizing, he who tricks the two brothers into trusting his words of ‘magic’ and who gets what they always wanted, the dead ‘She’.

The other reading was ‘The Pongo’s Dream’ by Arguedas. I loved this one. It is so simple and yet so powerful. It made me think of the saying ‘the last will be first’. The servant, the ‘pongo’, who was treaten shamefully by his owner, dreams that he will be redeemed from his misery and that his master will be punished. I wonder if this is what will enventually happen. No-one can know, I guess. It made me think of the Native American people today who are still being treaten unrespectfully in some parts of the world; we can see it in the example of the Standing Rock Reserve and how a local corporation is surpassing their values and laws for its own economical profits, with the help of the local government. It is very shameful in my eyes and I think it’s important to pass on stories like the ‘Pongo’s Dream’ to remind us about the reality of facts.

These readings made me overall think a lot about what happened not long ago in the ‘Latin Americas’ and the importance of justice, respect, solidarity today. I hope to discuss in class the meaning of some specific happenings and figures so to understand the stories better.